Microelectrodes provide many advantages in electro-chemistry and electroanalysis (some of which are discussed in Wightman, R. M., Anal. Chem., 1982, 54, 2532) in particular the possibility of electrolysis in resistive media or dilute solutions, and of microanalysis with improved sensitivity and precision. For these reasons a great deal of effort has been dedicated to establish a way of fabricating a regular microscopic disc array electrode. Any proposed method of fabrication must ensure that all the distinctive features of individual microelectrodes are retained, and in addition circumvent the problems associated with the measurement of extremely small currents (pA-nA), observed for single microdisc electrodes.
Many approaches have been proposed for the construction of a microdisc array electrode including photolithographic methods (see e.g. Osteryoung, J. and Hempel, T., J. Electrochem. Soc., 1986, 133, 757-760 and W. Siu and R. S. C. Cobbold, Med. & Biool. Eng., 1976, 14, 109), as well as the use of micropore membrane matrices (see e.g. Wang, J., J. Electrochem. Soc., 1988, 249,339-345, and Cheng, F., Anal. Chem., 1989, 61, 762-766). The former approach failed because of adhesion problems between the insulating photoresist layer and the metal substrate. The latter method of fabrication was self defeating because, although the size of the pore is well characterised, the pore density and distribution were undefined and the electrode ultimately irreproducible.